Daily Prayer

Wednesday, 28 February 2007

Paul notes – A quite Provocative excerpt (particularly his concluding statements, which I've boldened) from an essay by Christopher J H. Wright. While I still want to advocate for the explicit presence of shalom at the heart of a holistic understanding of mission, Wright makes some important points:

“Perhaps what we most need to learn, since we so easily forget it, is that mission is and always has been God's before it becomes ours. The whole Bible presents a God of missional activity, from his purposeful, goal-oriented act of Creation to the completion of his cosmic mission in the redemption of the whole of Creation—a new heaven and a new earth. The Bible also presents to us humanity with a mission (to rule and care for the earth); Israel with a mission (to be the agent of God's blessing to all nations); Jesus with a mission (to embody and fulfill the mission of Israel, bringing blessing to the nations through bearing our sin on the Cross and anticipating the new Creation in his Resurrection); and the church with a mission (to participate with God in the ingathering of the nations in fulfillment of Old Testament Scriptures).

But behind all this stands God with a mission (the redemption of his whole Creation from the wreckage of human and Satanic evil). The mission of God is what fills the Bible from the brokenness of the nations in Genesis 11 to the healing of the nations in Revelation 21-22. So any mission activity to which we are called must be seen as humble participation in this vast sweep of the historical mission of God. All mission or missions that we initiate, or into which we invest our vocation, gifts, and energies, flows from the prior mission of God. God is on mission, and we, in that wonderful phrase of Paul, are "co-workers with God."

We ask, "Where does God fit into the story of my life?" when the real question is, "Where does my little life fit into the great story of God's mission?"

We want to be driven by a purpose tailored for our individual lives, when we should be seeing the purpose of all life, including our own, wrapped up in the great mission of God for the whole of creation.

We wrestle to "make the gospel relevant to the world." But God is about the mission of transforming the world to fit the shape of the gospel.

We argue about what can legitimately be included in the mission God expects from the church, when we should ask what kind of church God expects for his mission in all its comprehensive fullness.

I may wonder what kind of mission God has for me, when I should ask what kind of me God wants for his mission.

We invite God's blessing on our human-centered mission strategies, but the only concept of mission into which God fits is the one of which he is the beginning and the end…”

“Yet it is not enough make big claims about the Bible’s uniqueness and authority. The authority that any text possesses is not measured by what we say about the text, but by what we do with the text, by the way we permit the text to function in our life [i.e. how we embody and LIVE it] and thought.”

Marshall proposes the following as obvious “symptoms” of “biblical disengagement.”

He concludes that the task before us is to try and “remedy these problems,” and offers that perhaps the place to start is with “the task of wise [and humble] interpretation”? His observations concerning “conservative evangelical and Pentecostal churches” (p.1) ring true for me. Beyond that, I would add the observation that while many liturgical denominations hear Scripture regularly (as Chris notes), via for example, the lectionary, daily offices, hymns; there is little deep or creative engagement with Scripture and little (everyday) conversation between gospel/Scripture & culture (whether to affirm, critique or subvert) post Sunday.

It is a very useful paper, yet one could have wished that Chris, rather than “simply open[ing] up the conversation” had spent less time on describing the problem(s) and more time offering some thoughts on practical ways forward, practical ways by which we (and our churches) might begin to meaningfully “re-engage with the Bible in [our] post-modern… [Post-Christendom contexts]”; approaches and practices that avoid digging oneself into a interprative and hermeneutical hole as either a "conservative" or a "liberal," and which take seriously the radical implications and demands of the Biblical narrative.

While Chris provides useful “prerequisites (pp.9-10) for becoming a competent or wise reader of the bible,” there remains a book ‘market” for someone willing to creatively tackle these practicalities of Scriptural re-engagement within the context of Aotearoa New Zealand and beyond, and I have just the person and proposal in mind.

Sunday, 25 February 2007

“Poetry is just the evidence of life. If you life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.” Leonard Cohen

Paul notes – Michael Casey reflects on The Value of Silencein the new Australia Catholic Online Journal – Terra Spiritus. A beer, a piece of folded-paper pulled from my wallet, and there I was this morning watching the inspiring, some might say “soaring” (i.e. I soared) Leonard Cohen: I’m Your ManDVD (2005). I was struck again by the importance of silence, waiting, listening and patience; also by the way these stepping stones nourish passion, creativity and attentiveness.

Casey writes:

“Solitude and silence give us the opportunity to close out many external voices that claim our immediate attention and are trying to shape our choices and our future. We need to learn how to keep our need for noise and entertainment to a minimum as a first step to a more intense spiritual life. If this is successful, we can begin to struggle against a greater hindrance, the inner noise that comes from deep within us: old resentments, fantasies, ambitions as well as various forms of self-programming. This source of disturbance is harder to still, but any progress we make will be liberating.

We can sometimes find silence in a crowded place, but most often we need to be imaginative in making opportunities for ourselves to enjoy our own interior space: a quiet seat in a garden, walking the dog, painting a fence, listening to music, long-distance driving, ironing, weeding a flowerbed, reflective reading. Many recreational activities and manual tasks can become rich inner experiences if we learn to resist the temptation to fill them with noise and distraction…”

p.s. the DVD (above) features a stunning performance of Cohen by Anthony (of Anthony and the Johnsons). It also features the inimitable Nick Cave (his duo is brilliant), interviews with Bono, the Edge, Cohen himself, and Cohen singing with U2 as his band and accompaniment. Steve Taylor reflected on this DVD here.

Off to watch the DVD again, then to silence. Shalom to you dear reader.

Saturday, 24 February 2007

Paul writes – Interesting reflections by Eugene Peterson (and others) at: The Last Thirty Years: What We've Learned along the Way –Seminar at the Calvin Symposium on Worship, January 26, 2006

“Spiritual reading starts, however, by recognizing how often the Bible asks people to speak and listen. “If we are to get the full force of the word, God’s word, we need to recover its atmosphere of spokenness,” he says. This includes reading aloud, listening to spoken Scripture, memorizing it, and imagining the sights, smells, and sounds surrounding those who first received God’s word.

Peterson’s methods are at odds with how American Christians [and many ‘Kiwi’ Christians] view spirituality and the Bible. Some know what the Bible says about God and vigorously defend the Bible…yet don’t offer their lives for the text to work on. Others see themselves as spiritual insiders who no longer need the text, because they can hear God whisper between the lines. This choice leaves them without a text to shape their souls.

… He also makes a case for exegesis.

As he writes in one essay, “Exegesis in an act of love. It means loving the one who speaks the words enough to want to get the words right….Exegesis doesn’t mean mastering the text, it means submitting to it; not taking charge of it and imposing my knowledge on it, but entering the world of the text and letting the text ‘read’ me.”

Read the whole article here. There are also some very useful links throughout the article.

Friday, 23 February 2007

Paul notes – Have listened, several times, to a fascinating lecture (Mp3) on Thomas Merton on contemplation and activism. It’s delivered by Prof (Emeritus) Ross Labrie attached to the English Department of the University of British Columbia. Was or still is the President of the Thomas Merton Society of Canada.

ABSTRACT:

”…For Thomas Merton the achieving of the deepest level of contemplation required, he believed, the sacrifice of the active life, in his case the life of the writer and artist, a life that he recognized was proper to him. All the same, from within his monastery he felt connected to those who were out in the world pursuing social justice. In order to balance the demands of contemplation and action, Merton divided contemplation into different levels, recognizing that some of these were more compatible with action than others…”

Wednesday, 21 February 2007

Alan writes – Paul’s letters speak of a definitive model of unity and diversity for the churches. A unity based simply on the grace and person of Christ; both of which are beyond our definitions, understandings and exploration. While they provide a common experience and wellspring they do not restrict, stifle or divide us.

James Dunn sums up Paul’s vision saying that Paul’s vision of church is “of a unity which grows out of shared experience of grace (whatever the formulae and rituals which may now express it), a unity which is dynamic and not static, and a unity which expresses ever anew the fresh experiences of grace of each new generation. Of a unity which recognizes the givenness of grace, the consequent and constant dependence on that grace, and that charisms are not a possession, not a right, but a responsibility, for the benefit of others, acts of service and not of self-indulgence. Of a unity which would be stifled by mono-ministry (the whole body an eye or an ear!) or by ministry too narrowly conceived, a unity whose effectiveness depends on the ministry of the whole people of God being fully recognized and implemented in a degree which has not been in evidence for the great bulk of Christian history.

In short Paul’s vision of the body of Christ is of a unity which consists in diversity, that is, a unity which is not denied by diversity, but which would be denied by uniformity, a unity which depends on its diversity functioning as such – in a word, the unity of a body, the body of Christ (Dunn, 1998:564).”

But where our unity is defined simply by dogma, shibboleths and small visions there is a corresponding lack of life, inclusion and richness in our communities. Paul’s vision for our churches is much bigger, much less defined and much richer.

Tuesday, 20 February 2007

Paul writes – Simon Holt, a “natural introvert” like myself, captures a longing I have, and the challenges of living into that longing within the context of marriage / family (& I’d add “work”). Couple Simon’s post with the fact I’ve been listening to a lecture about Thomas Merton, and have watched two very good documentaries on Merton in the last couple of weeks and it’s unsurprising that the longing for silence and stillness has increased recently. These thing remind you of what you’re missing!

Simon offers some useful insights on the Contemplative at Home, drawing on his reading of Wendy Wright’s latest title Season’s of a Family’s Life. It’s a book (together with its prequel Sacred Dwelling – see Simon’s post here) that Simon recommended last year, and are two books I need to get off the shelf and read over the course of 2007.

Simon begins his reflection:

“…Not long after my arrival, a young man walked by and sat just metres away. With a closely shaved head, he was dressed in the distinctive orange garb of a Buddhist monk. He looked out of place at first, but after time I noticed he was not reading, writing or even gazing up at the architecture. In fact, for several hours he sat motionless, eyes closed, hands clasped loosely in his lap. He was meditating.

Though from a different religious tradition than my own, this young man was a contemplative in the traditional sense. His stillness—a well-rehearsed calm—was mesmerizing. In between my own activity, I watched him, partly intrigued, partly envious. As a natural introvert, there has always been something oddly attractive to me about a vocation like his…”

Read the whole post here. It’s insightful. Another good book I picked up last year as a result of Simon’s indirect recommendation was Terry Monagle’s Fragments: Moments of Intimacy. Monagle had a new book come out last year: Claws of Fire: Seeking the Whispering Friend.

Related (for me at least) is the first part of a 29 December 2006 interview with Rowan Williams. Williams in response to a question about slowness says:

Williams: By busyness you lose perspective, you lose a sense of anchorage in yourself and in something deeper than yourself; you lose balance I think very easily

Interviewer:Do you think you’re a good example in this regard? You don’t exactly live a quiet life yourself?

Williams:Not exactly quiet, no; it needs planning and it means making quite sure that every year I get a week or two of proper retreat, in silence, that every day I get a bit of silence and actually this coming year I'm hoping to take a couple of months to slow down, to do some study, to get out of Lambeth a bit and, yes, read a little, pray a bit more

Monday, 19 February 2007

“Thomas Merton was the most popular proponent of the Christian contemplative tradition in the twentieth century. Now, for the first time, some of his most lyrical and prayerful writings have been arranged into A Book of Hours, a rich resource for daily prayer and contemplation that imitates the increasingly popular ancient monastic practice of "praying the hours". Editor Kathleen Deignan mined Merton's voluminous writings, arranging prayers for Dawn, Day, Dusk, and Dark for each of the days of the week. A Book of Hours allows for a slice of monastic contemplation in the midst of hectic modern life, with psalms, prayers, readings, and reflections.”

Sunday, 18 February 2007

Paul notes – I liked this from Mark Berry. It speaks to my experience of journey through 2006. It links to the stories I’ve often encountered through Mark – Celtic saints trustingly, faithfully and hopefully setting sail in boats whose course rests in the embrace of wind and current; similarly the vast journey’s into the unknown undertaken by the indigenous Maori of our lands – stars, sail, and wind:

"Risks are not risks unless they are taken; open your eyes to the risks that confront you... reach out for them in faith".

In so many ways we are invited to set sail...to chart new courses...to be blown by the wind of the Spirit. But there are also times when we are called to stability, to stay and to deepen our connection to where we are, and the places and people we discern God already at work.

Friday, 16 February 2007

Alan writes - For Jürgen Moltmann, the basis for all human hope is God’s self-sacrificing love. This love is the wellspring of Christian hope.

I had been reading a lot of Moltmann and was trying to pin down the essential core of his understanding of hope when I saw this title for one of his books – Love the Foundation of Hope: The theology of Jürgen Moltmann and Elisabeth Moltmann-Wendel. It is twenty years old but nevertheless a very good introduction to Christian Hope. The book includes chapters by Jurgen and Elisabeth Moltmann and then a series of discussion chapters by writers who interact with their work. The two key chapters are:

Love, Death, Eternal Life:Theology of Hope – the personal side by Jürgen Moltmann. And, Self-love and Self-Acceptance by Elisabeth Moltmann-Wendel

In the first Jürgen looks at personal hope based on the resurrection. He links personal hope with the death and resurrection of Christ. “As dying, Christ became brother to all the dying. As dead, he became brother to all the dead. As risen, he encompasses the dead and the living within his love and takes them with him on his way toward fulfillment in the kingdom of God (p17).” He links this personal hope with the wider hope for community, for justice, for God’s coming king-dom and to ultimate hope when God will make all things new.

In the second, Elisabeth discusses a love of God that impacts deeper than the cosmetic ‘God loves you’ so common in modern Christianity. Looking back to Old Testament wisdom and Jesus teaching she finds that ‘all who live in the realm of God should be able to say ‘I am good, I am whole, and I am beautiful’. This is the doctrine of justification in the flesh. She looks at each statement in turn saying:

·“In reformation theology, a core sentence evolved: I am good. It is unusual, almost forgotten, and we should reclaim it because we have learned too well to see ourselves as sinners. We believe in original sin but not in original blessing (p27)” [As and aside, Jason Clark makes some very good and related points in this talk (Mp3) with reference to Genesis & evangelism - Paul]

·Being whole means living by all our senses. “Integrating sensual experiences: colours, smells, feelings also into the experience of faith and of God. If something is separated from the senses, it soon becomes senseless.” Quoting the book ‘the colour purple’ she states ‘I think it pisses God off if you walk by the colour purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it (p31).” Being whole means accepting my inferior parts and is not equated for her with being perfect.

·“We only become beautiful if somebody finds us beautiful. ‘The sinners are beautiful because they are loved’, the young Luther said. Children and human beings become beautiful only when we find them beautiful. We can, however, only find them beautiful if we find ourselves beautiful deep down. And this mutual relationship shapes all human relations (p34).”

It is a book I would thoroughly recommend for those interested in understanding how Christian hope really works.